Author of Horror / Speculative Fiction

Aural inspiration.

It’s been a long 17 months since I started TLM, and I’ve digested a lot of music in that time. I usually try to find something that fits the mood, and when I started working on the story, the tone was very different. The story started differently, Donovan was in a completely different mindset (as was I), and so the music I listened to seemed to reflect that creative, mental space I was in. When I wrote ALT, I found myself listening to a lot of NIN’s With Teeth album, as the tone of its songs and theme of finding one’s place happened to fit. Naturally I thought I’d listen to it again in an attempt to recapture that mood, but as the story wore on and the tone changed, I found With Teeth wasn’t appropriate. I started listening to other stuff. Different stuff.

Last month I wrote about the “infinite repeat method” for getting into the necessary mood for work. Earlier this week I decided to experiment with that method, expanding it to an entire playlist made up of tunes I’ve listened to over the last year and a half. I’ve listened to this playlist for several days now. It flows well, I think, and it’s helped me get “into the zone,” so to speak, possibly much better than listening to the same song over and over.

So, I guess if THE LIMINAL MAN could ever have an “official” soundtrack, this would be it:

I tried to find the album versions, but in some cases I had to substitute live versions of lesser quality (“Mostly Translucent”) or weird video versions that are missing awesome guitar solos (“Ocean Size”). VAST’s contribution, in my opinion, epitomizes the relationship between Donovan and his wife, and I listened to this during a very intense, emotional moment of the story to set the mood. “Your Decision” is an equally important tune, in that it makes a very simple statement which has extreme repercussions within the story itself. Finally, “Echoplex” is sort of how this whole thing began. I was listening to it when a key scene of the story came to me. It’s stuck with me ever since, and that scene dominates nearly three chapters of the book.

I think the whole thing flows well together. Listening to this will give you an idea of where Donovan is in TLM, and where he’s headed at its climax.